2008-05-12T23:53:20Z tag:blog.washingtonpost.com,2008:/iraq-debate//346 Copyright (c) 2008, WashingtonPost.Newsweek Interactive 2008-05-12T23:53:20Z tag:washingtonpost.com,2008-04-09:/iraq-debate/2008/04/life_is_a_tale_told_by_a_blogg.html

Okay, that's it. Two days, and what have we learned? I think what we know is that the war isn't going to change much until at least early next year. And maybe not even then. Rightly or wrongly, Gen. Petraeus has set us on a course for another several years in Iraq. After all, the military will tell you that successful counterinsurgency campaigns last five to 10 years. But what happens next year, especially if...Please click on the title to continue reading this entry.

Tom Ricks 2008-05-12T23:53:20Z tag:washingtonpost.com,2008-04-09:/iraq-debate/2008/04/petraeus_digs_in_his_heels.html

Gen. Petraeus, in an exchange with Rep. Lynn Woolsey (D.-Calif.) made his views on withdrawing from Iraq clearer. While he wants to get out of Iraq, he said, "What we want to do is come home the right way," without jeopardizing the gains made, he said, after being pushed. I think this is a bit farther than he went yesterday when Sen. Lindsey Graham (BFF - McCain) tried to draw him out. Petraeus is clearly...Please click on the title to continue reading this entry.

Tom Ricks 2008-05-12T23:53:20Z tag:washingtonpost.com,2008-04-09:/iraq-debate/2008/04/dems_vs_maliki_gop_vs_iran.html

As I listen to Rep. Mike Pence (R.-Ind.) talk about Iran and its malign actions, it strikes me that Republicans in these hearings have been running against Iran, while Democrats have been running against the Iraqi government. Rep. Russ Carnahan (D.-Mo.) spoke earlier about "a mounting backlash to the Iraqis not standing up."...Please click on the title to continue reading this entry.

Tom Ricks 2008-05-12T23:53:20Z tag:washingtonpost.com,2008-04-09:/iraq-debate/2008/04/ron_paul_speaks.html

Say what you will, Rep. Ron Paul (R.-Texas) is a clear speaker. He just asked a boatload of powerfully put questions. Among them: --"What is moral about demanding more needless sacrifice"? --"The Iraqi government . . . is an ally of the Iranians." So why do we support it? --If Iraq, our ally, has diplomatic relations with Iran, why don't we? --What would we think if Iran occupied Mexico? (I think that was his question.)...Please click on the title to continue reading this entry.

Tom Ricks 2008-05-13T17:48:14Z tag:washingtonpost.com,2008-04-09:/iraq-debate/2008/04/downsizing_the_goals_in_iraq.html

That was a tough exchange. Rep. Robert Wexler (D-Fla.) put a very sharp point on his question about why we are in Iraq. One family in his district lost a son in Iraq this week, he said. "What has all this been for?" he asked Petraeus. "What is winning?" Petraeus did his best to answer. We are fighting, he said, for the national interest, and for regional stability in the Middle East. We are "trying...Please click on the title to continue reading this entry.

Tom Ricks 2008-05-12T23:53:20Z tag:washingtonpost.com,2008-04-09:/iraq-debate/2008/04/crocker_predicts_catastrophic.html

If next year conditions in Iraq are about as they are now, and U.S. troop levels are cut quickly, then civil war and perhaps regional war would follow, Crocker just told Rep. Dan Burton (R.- Ind.). This is the strongest criticism I've heard from Crocker or Petraeus of the approach to Iraq that Democratic presidential candidates have offered. "You would see a spiral down, and that would lead to expanded sectarian conflict," Crocker said. "It...Please click on the title to continue reading this entry.

Tom Ricks 2008-05-12T23:53:20Z tag:washingtonpost.com,2008-04-09:/iraq-debate/2008/04/petraeus_does_pop_culture.html

General Petraeus just "jokingly" compared the tribes of al Anbar province to the families on "The Sopranos." Each tribe, he said, seems to have a trucking business, a construction business, and an import-export business. It really is more than a joke. I remember walking into one of Saddam's palaces, with its cheap painted gold furniture and huge ugly chandeliers, and thinking, Oh, this country was run by a big version of Tony Soprano. The Sopranos,...Please click on the title to continue reading this entry.

Tom Ricks 2008-05-12T23:53:20Z tag:washingtonpost.com,2008-04-09:/iraq-debate/2008/04/havent_we_heard_this_all_befor.html

One of my favorite actors was Slim Pickens -- not just in 'Dr. Strangelove,' but also in 'Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid.' I was just thinking of him because of how slim the pickings are in this fourth hearing. Sometimes I feel like I've heard it all before -- and I have. The words all begin to run together --"difficult," "challenging," "fragile," "reversible." But part of the interest of reporting is how surprising life...Please click on the title to continue reading this entry.

Tom Ricks 2008-05-12T23:53:20Z tag:washingtonpost.com,2008-04-09:/iraq-debate/2008/04/three_down.html

And the House Armed Services hearing is concluded. I thought this hearing produced less than I expected. Petraeus and Crocker have an excuse: They are tired. But why do House hearings seem less coherent than Senate hearings? The members here had almost as much time to ask questions. I'm off to set up my laptop in the hearing room for the House Foreign Relations Committee. Here is a complete transcript of the hearing....Please click on the title to continue reading this entry.

Tom Ricks 2008-05-12T23:53:20Z tag:washingtonpost.com,2008-04-09:/iraq-debate/2008/04/whats_going_on.html

I think that what is going on in these hearings is that General Petraeus really thinks that it is going to take another three or four years to get Iraq to where he thinks he might be able to say it has reached a state of "sustainable security." But he doesn't seem to really want to say that. That strikes me as somewhat too cautious. He has taken risks in Iraq -- putting former insurgents...Please click on the title to continue reading this entry.

Tom Ricks 2008-05-12T23:53:20Z tag:washingtonpost.com,2008-04-09:/iraq-debate/2008/04/petraeus_us_troop_morale_impro.html

The most recent mental health survey of U.S. troops in Iraq found that their morale is improving, General Petraeus just said. He noted that after years of decline, reflecting the difficulty and duration of the war, that "morale actually went up" in the most recent survey, which he said was conducted last fall. (The Army and Marines usually release these--but several months after they are done. I don't believe last fall's is out yet.) Morale...Please click on the title to continue reading this entry.

Tom Ricks 2008-05-12T23:53:20Z tag:washingtonpost.com,2008-04-09:/iraq-debate/2008/04/petraeus_pushed_harder_on_troo.html

As predicted, the House Armed Services Committee is pushing Petraeus a little harder on troop cuts. Specifically, when will he begin considering reductions beyond the current ones that between now and this July will take the U.S. back to around the pre-surge level of about 133,000 troops. "We are already identifying areas" where additional cuts might be made, Petraeus told Rep. Skelton. There are "four or five" such areas, he said....Please click on the title to continue reading this entry.

Tom Ricks 2008-05-12T23:53:20Z tag:washingtonpost.com,2008-04-09:/iraq-debate/2008/04/from_baghdad_to_beirut_part_ii.html

While Petraeus and Crocker repeated their statements (for the third time!) I just checked through some of my favorite blogs -- Small Wars Journal, its rogue cousin Abu Muqawama, and Juan Cole's Informed Comment. The first two are military-oriented. Cole, by contrast, is a bit of a leftie, and gets bashed pretty frequently from the right. So be forewarned, if you need it. In his blog today, he pursues Ambassador Crocker's comments about the "Lebanonization"...Please click on the title to continue reading this entry.

Tom Ricks 2008-05-12T23:53:20Z tag:washingtonpost.com,2008-04-09:/iraq-debate/2008/04/day_two_of_no_way_out.html

Today the House of Representatives has the advantage the Senate had at last September's Petraeus-Crocker hearings: It goes second. That means they can try to get beyond the basics that were laid down in yesterday's hearings of the Senate Armed Services and Foreign Relations committees. More specifically, I think members of Congress are likely to press Gen. Petraeus more on the conditions he is trying to achieve in Iraq, and how long he thinks it...Please click on the title to continue reading this entry.

Tom Ricks 2008-05-12T23:53:20Z tag:washingtonpost.com,2008-04-08:/iraq-debate/2008/04/end_of_the_day.html

"We're six years into this," Biden, the chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, just warned Petraeus and Crocker. "We're way beyond the early stages." And then he gaveled the hearing closed. As far as hearings go, that's two down, and two to go. My feeling at the end of the day was that as congressional hearings go, it wasn't bad. Part of the function of hearings is to collect information, but they also provide a...Please click on the title to continue reading this entry.

Tom Ricks